


honey, peppermint, and milk chocolate

by reylofics



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Past Relationship(s), Soulmates, Temporarily Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-03-21 21:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13749168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reylofics/pseuds/reylofics
Summary: ezria breaks up after he proposes to her and aria finally gets with the one that she’s always loved. or does she?





	1. before candy kisses

**Author's Note:**

> i love ezria, i really do. but i also love jaria, and i felt robbed of the fact that we barely get any romantic scenes between them. plus, there haven’t been any jaria fics written in forever.

“Ezra, we need to talk,” said Aria, closing the door behind her and setting her bag on the newly cleansed floor.

Fitz looked pained, gesturing for her to come forward and join him on the couch with whatever bad news she was about to let out. He knew her better than anyone else to his knowledge—it was because he knew her better than anyone else that Ezra knew that Aria did not come bearing good news the second she had walked in through the front door. Awkwardly, her petite body joined Ezra’s lanky one on the couch. She made sure to leave a few inches of space between them. Not that he would even notice. It wasn’t her first time deliberately putting a few inches of space between them; though he didn’t care enough to see her carefully placed intentions, most of the time.

Aria’s boyfriend clasped his hands tightly together. She didn’t even feel like he deserved the title of being her boyfriend, anymore. “So,” he started out between gritted teeth, “what do you want to talk about?”

They were talking like strangers instead of a couple was that about to become engaged.

Aria cleared her throat. Choking up, she tried to get the words out that she had come here with the intention of saying. Images of A and all his/her threats swarmed around in her head like busy bees. A’s return threatened to fall out from her mouth at the tip of her tongue. Yet, nothing came out but silence. 

Somehow, like always, the brunette’s thoughts reverted back to him. “Him” wasn’t Ezra. “Him” was the one person that Aria could never seem to figure out, even after all their time spent together before they had split and gone their separate ways.

“I was with Jason,” blurted out Aria.

Her boyfriend stared back at her in disbelief. He gaped openly at her for a few seconds, then began to chuckle and shake his head. “That’s it?” Ezra Fitz had expected much worse from Aria Montgomery.

Ezra shook his head once again. “You wanted to talk about the fact that you were with Jason? Aria, you know I love you and you love me, so why do you think I would be mad at you for hanging out with Jason before you came over here?”

Aria’s breath hitched in her throat. “Th-that’s not what I meant,” she said quietly.

Fitz bit his lip at her words. “Then, what did you ‘mean’, Aria? Care to explain?” He scoffed carelessly, clearly still confused as to what she had really meant. But Aria knew that he knew what she had meant—he just wanted her to confirm. He wanted her to feel guilty about saying what she was about to say next.

Tears began to pool at the edges of her eyes. “Ezra, I was WITH Jason.”

Slowly, the real meaning of her words dawned upon him. “You were...WITH him. You cheated on me? Is that why you came over here? To say that you can’t marry me because of some stupid mistake you made?” A lump of broken tears started to form in Ezra’s throat.

“No!” Aria refuted. “I DID NOT cheat on you. Ezra, I would NEVER cheat on you. We were together shortly before you and I got together,” she explained. Now, the wetness in her eyes was imminently threatening to stream down her rosy cheeks.

Ezra’s brows furrowed up in confusion. Aria’s boyfriend wasn’t mad but he wasn’t exactly happy, either. “Then, what’s the point of you coming over here and telling me this? I don’t understand why I need to know about your past relationships...” he trailed off.

“That’s not originally why I came over here, Ezra.”

“Aria, WHY did you REALLY come over here? If not to tell me about your past little relationship with a DiLaurentis, what else?”

‘A’ was on the tip of her tongue. Had they been in any other setting, Aria might’ve admitted what her original intentions were, and Jason would’ve been forgotten. But she just couldn’t get him out of her mind. His honey scented hair, peppermint cologne, and milk chocolate kisses lingered in her thoughts.

“Forget it. There was no other reason.”

Ezra scoffed in utter disbelief, anger settling in. “What is bugging you so much about Jason that you just HAD to come and tell me about you guys? Isn’t that in the past, anyways?”

Aria didn’t answer. 

“It’s in the past, right?” Fitz’s voice began to rise increasingly with anger.

Finally, the petite brunette answered softly. “You already know the answer.”

Fitz stood up, banging the desk next to the couch with his fist. “Damn it, Aria! Why the hell would you come to me if you KNEW that you were still into someone else?”

The tears were now rapidly cascading down her face. “Ezra, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come back to you. You’re right. But some part of me does still love you.”

“Just not as much as you love Jason. Right.” Aria wasn’t saying anything but Ezra had already heard all that he needed to hear. He couldn’t even meet her eyes. Ezra Fitz wanted nothing more than for her to leave and never come back. Who was she to come to his house and say that she was in love with somebody else after he already fallen in love with her?

“Ezra,” pleaded Aria. Once again, he refused to meet her eyes. “Ezra, please. Talk to me.”

Without looking in her direction once, he jabbed a finger towards the door. “Get out,” said Ezra calmly. “You can forget the proposal and our relationship. You don’t need to worry about me getting in the way, anymore.” His voice trembled and quaked with every word that he spoke to Aria. Ezra was still in love with her but she clearly didn’t love him as much as he loved her and that’s what had hurt him the most.

On the opposite side of the couch, Aria was a mess. Hastily, she ran to the door in tears, grabbing her bag as she unlocked the bolt on the door. “Have fun with Nicole,” she said, wanting to hurt him as much as he had hurt her. It wasn’t like leaving Ezra was easy for Aria, though that’s probably what Ezra thought. Not looking back, she stepped outside into the hallway, slamming the heavy door behind her. She sunk to the ground, her salty tears staining the carpet. On the other side of the door, Ezra was doing the same.


	2. candy kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a month after ezria breaks up, jaria reconciles. this is super rushed, so please don’t judge lol.

“Oh my god, Jason! Shit, I’m so sorry!”

To any passing by civilian, the scene before them would’ve made them stare at the party before them with disgust for a few seconds without so much as a second glance. Aria’s black coffee had made an unmistakable stain on Jason’s grey tank top. How it had happened was unknown to Aria. She had been so careful to get out of her car with coffee in hand, timing her exit perfectly, hoping that she wouldn’t bump into the older DiLaurentis brother as he was passing by. Yet, by some freak force of nature, Aria had tripped on the curb leading up to her house, splashing her coffee in the 20 foot radius surrounding her. Of course, Jason DiLaurentis had just happened to be in that small circle surrounding the petite young woman. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind.

Jason held his hands up in an awkward gesture symbolizing peace to Aria. “It’s fine, really,” he said with a smile. Aria gave him a weak smile in return. “Look, why don’t you come in and I’ll wash your shirt while you wait,” she offered kindly. In fact, she said it as if she were pleading, rather than gently offering. 

Taking into her blotchy, red eyes, Jason’s facial features softened. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” he agreed. As the pair made their way up the steps, he added, “It’s still not your fault. I’m just really clumsy.” At that, he could’ve sworn he saw the hint of a smile creep upon the sides of her pretty face. 

She fished for the house keys in the pocket of her blazer. Jason struggled to make conversation. “So,” he started awkwardly, “you were at The Brew, right? Meeting someone?”

Aria stopped what she was doing, clutching the keys in her hand tightly. Her hair whipped around as she turned to stare Jason in the eyes intently. After a while, she cleared her throat and a fake smile crossed over her face. “Yeah,” she confirmed in response to his question, “I was meeting someone.” She cleared her throat. “Ezra,” she said, clearing up the look of confusion on Jason’s face.

“Like a date?” Jason’s tone became snarky.

“No, not like a date,” said Aria. “We, uh, we actually broke up a month ago. But, we talked today, for the first time since, you know. And we’ve decided to be friends.” She paused. “I shouldn’t have told you all that,” Aria whispered.

Jason waved it off and immediately regretted his previous condescending tone about what he had thought to be a date. “It’s fine, Aria. I’m the one who should really be sorry.”

Aria nodded her head in response, wordlessly accepting the apology. For what seemed like eternity, the duo stared into each other’s eyes. Breaking their gaze quickly, Aria dangled her keys up in the air and chuckled nervously. Jason tore his gaze away from Aria to look ahead at the opening door. The creaking door swung open, revealing no one to be inside. Aria stepped inside, gesturing for Jason to come forward and join her.

In the heat of the moment, Jason whipped his grey tank top up and over his head, handing it to Aria to wash. She fiercely blushed as he handed it to her, taking it to the wash quickly. This left him to look at their family pictures in the living room.

His eyes skimmed over the pictures on the mantelpiece, locking onto a picture that seemed to have been taken when Aria was 15. In the picture, her pink highlights were still intact. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice Aria coming up behind him and tapping his bare shoulder. “Boo,” she shouted into his ear, making him feel like they were teenagers again. He turned around rapidly, their faces only mere inches apart. Aria sprung back in surprise.

“I liked your pink highlights,” said Jason, breaking the silence between them.

“Thanks,” Aria said meekly. They shuffled around the room like two strangers for a while, occasionally stealing awkward glances at the other person in the room. Then Aria broke the silence. “We can watch a movie while we wait for your shirt to get washed?”

Jason agreed with much enthusiasm. Together, they walked to the closet of movies and Aria pulled it open to reveal the thousands of movies hidden inside. “You pick,” smiled Aria. Jason’s nimble fingers bumbled around the closet, searching for a movie that he liked. Finally, his fingers stumbled upon one that struck him with electricity, causing the hair to raise up on his arms.

“Really,” scoffed Aria, “The Notebook? Jason, you’re such a cliché.” 

“Well, this was always your favorite movie,” retorted Jason, causing Aria to blush and smile.

He liked seeing her smile. If he could put her smile on repeat for the rest of his life, he would die a happy man.

Picking the DVD from the movie case, Jason and Aria walked back to the living room, where Jason smoothly slid the disc inside of the DVR. Settling back into the couch together, Aria grabbed the remote to turn the volume up and then left it on the table beside her. The movie began to play. Halfway into the movie, Aria got up to put Jason’s shirt in the dryer, which meant that they didn't have much time left together. Jason paused the movie. Frantically, he searched for ideas to prolong their time together in her house, though he was unable to settle on an idea that he liked.

When Aria came back, Jason was staring into her eyes as she settled back into the couch. “What?” she giggled nervously, when he said nothing.

“Why did you and Ezra break up?” It was a question that had been on his mind for several minutes after she had broken the news to him.

Aria said nothing, searching for the remote. “You won’t find it,” said Jason, “but I’ll give it back when I get an answer.”

The brunette sighed. “We broke up because I’m in love with someone else.” She rolled her eyes, putting her hand out for the remote. It was a pitiful attempt to disguise the shocking confession and Jason wasn’t easily distracted.

The DiLaurentis boy shook his head. “Who?”

The petite girl didn’t want to say. He wouldn't stop staring at her and she almost felt obligated to answer as his eyes seemed to probe into the back of her thoughts. As much as she hated that she loved him, she couldn’t stop the thoughts that were starting to flow into her head. Memories of her cutting his honey lumberjack hippie hair a week after he came to Rosewood even though she had just gotten back together with Ezra, him spraying his peppermint cologne into her room as a practical joke when they were teenagers and his milk chocolate kisses melting onto her lips; the memories all came flooding back into her mind.

“I love you,” blurted out Aria and Jason at the same time.

Aria felt like laughing, because she felt so stupid for pining after someone who felt the exact same way as she did, but she couldn’t laugh at him when he peered into her big brown eyes and planted a kiss onto her lips. 

Jason DiLaurentis tasted like candy and Aria Montgomery couldn’t help but sigh as she touched his honey hair, breathed in his same old peppermint cologne and tasted his milk chocolate lips.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading. you guys are truly gems. 
> 
> update: this was originally posted on february 20th, 2018 but has since then been revised and edited!


End file.
